Apparatus for manufacturing continuous tubing from separate reels of skelp



A I A 1,622,336 March 29 9 J, w. MOON APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CONTINUOUS TUBING FR OM SEPARATE HEELS OF SKELP Fil ed Feb. 27, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 1 March 1927' J. MOON Q APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CONTINUOUS TUBING FROM SEPARATE HEELS OF SKELP FiledFeb. 27, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 29, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'IOHN W. MOON, OFQ BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO FRETZ-MOON TUBE COM- PANY, F -BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CONTINUOUS TUBING FROM SEPARATE HEELS OF SKELP.

Application filed February 27, 1925. Serial No. 12,036.

In patents issued to me December 4, 1923,

No. 1,476,537 and No. 1,476,632, I have set forth a process and apparatus for producing continuous tubing from an endless length of fiat skelp which continuously travels through an elongated furnace in which every point in its length is gradually heated up to or near .a welding heat, the skelp being formed into a tube and its edges welded together bv bending and welding rolls located just in front of the delivery mouth of the furnace;v these bending and welding rolls and sizing rolls arranged beyond the bending and rolling rolls operating to pull the skelp through the furnace. The skelp is received for use rolled on reels, and in order to-deliver the skelp to the furnace in acontinuous manner. it is necessary to weld the rear end of one roll of skelp to the front end of a fresh roll of skelp. In my said patents, this operation is effected inthe following manner. During the feeding of skelp from a reel positioned just back of the furnace, workmen unreeled a length of skelp from said reel and welded the rear end of such unreeled portion to the front end of a freshroll of skelp, the length of skelp unreeled from the first roll in the. meantime continuing to feed to the furnace. The fresh reel was then placed in the same position as the original reel. Subsequently. by repeating the same operation, the rear end of the skelp on the second reel was welded to the front end of the skelp on a third reel.

In handling skelp of the larger sizes. two F workmen are required to effect the unreeling, and the operation is quite laborious. I have devised an unreeling machine which is adapted to perform the major part of the work of unreeling and by whose use the actual physical labor is materially reduced. I have also so arranged and operated the unreeling machine 'as to substantially improve the mode of operation. In the drawings, which show a preferred embodiment of my invention- Fig. 1 is a plan View of the reeling-out machine of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of same. Fig. 3 is a sectionalelevation on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a diagram of the complete apparatus.

The reeling-out (or unreeling) -machine will first be described. From the base of the machine extend posts a. to which are secured a frame 6 having housings for the shaft of a-driving roll 0. Another roll d has its shaft turning in housings carried by a frame e secured to rockable posts f. Posts 7 are supported on plates 7, which are pivotally mounted on a shaft h, to which is also pivoted arms 2' having at their free ends a treadle Links 70 connect arms 2' with rockable posts f.

By lifting the treadle by hand, roll d may be swung away from roll 0. Unless the trrfiidle be so lifted, roll (I will swing toward r0 0.

The shaft of roll a. through a pair of bevel gears m, is driven from a shaft 1, which, through spur gears 0, is driven by a motor 7;.

As shown, the rolls 0 and d are adapted to grip the edges of the skelp m, but the invention is not limited to rolls adapted to engage the skelp edgewise, nor to rolls one of which is positively driven and the other of which is an idler, nor to the precise other details of construction described; these being only structural features of a preferable embodiment of the invention. I

The operation will be understood by reference to the diagram of Fig. 4 in connection with the following description.

Back of the furnace r are supporting pins 5 on each ofwhich is adapted-t0 be slipped a reel of skelp. Back of these reel supports is an electric welding contrivance u and back of that a reeling-out machine like that hereinbefore described and which. as an entirety,

I have indicated by the reference letter '0.

.Let itbe assumed that skelp m is continuouslv entering thefurnace 1' and unwinding from. a reel 7 of skelp on one of the pins t. The skelp may be assumed. as it unwinds from reel 11 to travel back through the rolls of the reeling-out machine 'v and thence around and forward toward the rear of the furnace. a loop of considerable'size being formed back of the machine a. It should be understood that the skelp is pulled through the furnace by the tube-forming mechanism in front of the furnace. this mechanism being diagrammatically shown, and comprising bending and welding rolls 10 and sizing rolls 11 and 12.

From another reel 2 of skelp, a few feet are unwound to bring the forward end of the skelp to the welding device u. When .the

rear end of the skelp from reel y reaches the During the welding operation, the skelp,.

of course, continues to feed forward to the furnace. After the weld is made, the rolls 0 and d are held inactive (by the stopping of motor p) until the weld is fairly cold. Then the motor is again started, pulling the welded joint through the rolls.

Reel 1 is removed and a fresh reel is substituted therefor, the front end of the skelp thereon being subsequently welded to the rear end or the skel on reel .2, just as the front end of the skelp on reel 2 was welded to the rear end of the skelp on reel 1 The rolls a and d are adapted to unwind the skelp at a faster rate than the skelp is pulled through the furnace, so as to gradu ally increase the length of slrelp between machine a and the furnace until. the machine is stopped for the time required to perform the welding operation, during which stoppage the excess length of shelp between the machine t: and the furnace is taken up by the continued travel ot the shelp through the furnace.

' While the skelp is passing between rolls 0 and d, the operator will usually maintain a slight foot pressure on the treadle to insure against the skelp jumping out of the rolls due to kinks inthe skelp.

In starting the o eration of the plant, the treadle y of the reeling-out machine is lifted to separate the rolls a and ti and allow the end of thefirst reel of skeip to be inserted into the 'ooves of the rolls; hut after the plant is m operation, the rolls are main tained in operative relation with the skelp, which travels therethrough continuously ex'- cept during thewelding operation.

Having now fully described my invention,

what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus for manufacturing a continuous length of tubing from separate reels of skelp, the combination with a furtime through which the skelp is adapted to travel, means to form the skelp into tubing and to continuously draw the skelp through said skelp at 'a higher rate of speed than that at which it is pulled through the furnace and adapted to be'stopped to allow the rear end of the skelp from one reel to be welded to the front end of the skelp from another reel.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 where- I in the welding machine comprises two rolls, one of which is relatively movable from the other to allow skelp to be inserted between them and toward the other to allow the skelp to be gripped between them.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the welding machine comprises a fixed roll, a movable roll, an upwardly extending movable-roll support, a laterally. extending arm, means connecting said arm androll support whereby when the arm. is lifted the movable-roll support is swung away from the fixedroll to allow skelp to be inserted between the rolls, and a treadle on the laterally extending arm which is adapted to be v pressed down to cause the skelp, to be gripped between the rolls with a regulatable.

JOHN W. MooN'. 

